Next time the credits are rolling, stick around so you can educate your fellow audience members on what exactly a gaffer does.
This is but one of the mysteries addressed in Who’s Who on a Movie Crew, a campy but undeniably informative primer on film set responsibilities and hierarchies. Some job details get glossed over – grips have far more to keep track of than can ever fit in a rhyming couplet – but it’s in keeping with the deliberately anachronistic animation style and equipment. The breezy style makes for appropriate viewing for all ages. Hundreds of starry-eyed youngsters (and their parents) stand to benefit.
Honey, are you sure you want to be a production assistant?
More in-depth, non-rhyming explanations of the various roles can be found on Vimeo’s Video School. Ditto Producer Christine Vachon’s dishy how-to / memoir A Killer Life, which goes into key positions that failed to make the Video School cut, such as parking manager and caterer (when you’re starving and bored, there’s no one who’s greater-er….)
Related Content:
The Film Before the Film: An Introduction to the History of Title Sequences in 10 Minutes
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Filmmaking Advice from Quentin Tarantino and Sam Raimi (NSFW)
Spike Lee Shares His NYU Teaching List of 87 Essential Films Every Aspiring Director Should See
Ayun Halliday appears as the least believable female cop in NYC in an upcoming short adaption of Italo Calvino’s The Man Who Only Came Out at Night. Follow her at @AyunHalliday.
As always, Prop Master is overlooked. That’s good continuity.
I can only assume, Ron, that you mentioned Continuity because she, too, was totally overlooked? I’d love to see a successful movie shoot without Continuity (or as the job is now known, Script Supervision) …
Maybe this ‘primer’ tells people something, but not a lot.
If only this had not been narrated in cheapjack, sing-song poetry …